After coming off the high of last weeks exciting field trip to the Mountain Research Station where we spent time team building, learning how to do field work, and exploring the beautiful Rockies; I’ll admit that day one at NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) felt a bit foreboding. It was time to get down to business. I was dropped off at the visitor’s center feeling a little awkward and uncertain, a bit like a preteen on their first day of 6th grade. I had to no idea what to expect, not to mention that my mentor was out this first week so I wasn’t entirely sure who would be helping me and showing me the ropes. Fortunately, to save me from wandering around looking lost, my roommate and fellow researcher, Pru, and our administrative contact, Jason, were at the visitor’s center waiting for me. We took care of all the necessary in-processing, got our real, bona fide NOAA badge, and then it was off to the races. We made our way through the NOAA building, a real labyrinth of sorts, and due to an unfortunate mix up of names, someone directed us to the office of a French gentleman named Michel (rather than my mentor’s officemate ‘Neesha’) who looked at me blankly, just as confused as I was as to why I had been abruptly left in his office. “So, who are you?” He asked. After diving into my spiel about RECCS and my internship project, the look on his face getting ever more quizzical, I stopped myself and said, “Sorry, sir, I think there has been some sort of mix up.” I ran down the hall to catch up with Pru and Jason. Yes, this was every bit of a “first day on the job.”
All story telling aside, my first week was an informative one. I received crash courses on space weather, satellites, and the MatLab coding program. The main focus of this week has been to gather as much background information as possible, so we can dive in deeper next week when my mentor is back in town. I’ve made a point of getting familiar with the maze that is the NOAA building and picking everyone’s brain. I want to gain insight as to how everyone got to this point, what their contribution is, and how the pieces of everyone’s expertise interconnect to form a much bigger picture. The main take away: doesn’t matter if you’re a postdoctoral researcher or a community college student, we all feel like we have so much still to learn and have just barely scratched the surface.
